A PROPOSED CAMPANILE FOR KANSAS STATE COLLEGE by NILES FRANKLIN 1.1ESCH B. S., Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science, 1932 A THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE KANSAS STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND APPLIED SCIENCE 1932 LV e.(2 1932 Rif7 ii. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 THE EARLY HISTORY OF BELLS 3 BELL FOUNDING 4 BELL TUNING 7 THE EARLY HISTORY OF CAMPANILES 16 METHODS OF PLAYING THE CARILLON 19 THE PROPOSED CAMPANILE 25 The Site 25 Designing the Campanile 27 The Proposed Campanile as Submitted By the Author 37 A Model of the Proposed Campanile 44 SUMMARY '47 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 54 LITERATURE CITED 54 1. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this thesis is to review and formulate the history and information concerning bells and campaniles which will aid in the designing of a campanile suitable for Kansas State College. It is hoped that the showing of a design for such a structure with the accompanying model will further stimulate the interest of both students, faculty members, and others in the ultimate completion of such a project. The design for such a tower began about two years ago when the senior Architectural Design Class, of which I was a member, was given a problem of designing a campanile for the campus. The problem was of great interest to me and became more so when I learned that the problem had been given to the class with the thought in mind that some day a campanile would be built. Up to that time very little work had been done on such a project. Some literature on bells and towers had been collected and a very few rough sketches on the design of such a tower had been made. This latter work ended, however, upon the graduation of the student who made them. With so little work accomplished on such a project, I felt that it would be quite beneficial to myself and to the 2. college, to at least study and design a Proposed Campanile. With this view in mind, then, I chose the study of this subject. The first part of the thesis takes up the history of bells, how they are made and tuned, and the required quali- fications. Also, a short history and description of the early campaniles. The old primitive methods of playing the chime or carillon are contrasted with the modern methods of playing. The last part of the thesis has taken up the studies that I have made in developing a suitable design as well as a discussion of each. Blue prints showing the plans, ele- vation, and section of the proposed tower are illustrated, as well as photographs of a model which was made to study the design from various views and angles. The method used in the gathering of this material was to make myself as well acquainted as possible with this project by reading every important work on the subject that I could find. The information used in designing the tower has been attained through the experience and training received in my architectural design classes. The informa- tion thus obtained was used to describe and illustrate the Proposed Campanile. 3. THE EARLY HISTORY OF BELLS There seems to be no trustworthy evidence of any bells in existance before the Christian Era and the only instru- ment which was used to summon the Romans to public baths or processions was a probable cymbal or resonant plate of metal which emitted some sort of rattle. The earliest Latin word for a bell (Campana) is late Latin of the fourth or fifth century A.D., and the first application of bells to churches has been ascribed to Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, Campania about 400 A.D. There is, however, tion of this story. It has been maintained with somewhat more reason that Pope Sebinianus (604) first used church bells, but it seems clear that they were introduced into France as early as 550. In the seventh century Bede mentions a bell brought from Italy by Benedict Biscop for his abbey at Wearmouth, and speaks of the sound of a bell being well known at Whithy abbey at the time of St. Hilda's death in 680. St. Dunstan hung many bells in the tenth century, and in the eleventh century they were not uncommon in Switzerland and Germany. Several old bells are extant in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The oldest are often quadrangular, made of thin iron plates, hammered and riveted together. A well known specimen is St. Patrick's bell preserved at Belfast which 4. is called "the bell of St. Patrick's will". It is six inches high, five inches broad, four inches deep, adorned with gems and gold and silver filigree-work and is inscribed 1091 and 1105 but it is probably the bell alluded to in Ulster annals in 552. In these early times bells were usually small. Even in the eleventh century a bell present- ed to the church at Orleans weighing 2,600 pounds was thought to be large. To these scanty records of the early history of bells may be added the enumeration of different kinds of bells by Hieronymus Magius. 1. Tintinnabulum, a little bell for refectory or dormitory. 2. Petasius, or larger broad-brimmed hat bell. 3. Codon, Orifice of trumpet, a Greek hand bell. 4. Nola, a very small bell used in the choir. 5. Campana, a large bell, first used in the Latin church towers. 6. Squilla, a shrill little bell. BELL FOUNDING The earliest bells were probably not cast, but made of plates riveted together. Later when casting was adopted, the earliest founders travelled about the country, setting 5. up a temporary foundry to cast bells wherever they were wanted. The chief English bell makers lived in London, York, Gloucester, and Nottingham and included Miles Graye (1605); Samuel Smith, father and son, of York (1680-1774); Mot, sixteenth century; Lester and Pack (1750); Christopher Hodson of London (who cast "Great Tom" of Oxford, 1681); Richard Phelps (1716); and H. Bagley (eighteenth century), all of whose works are still in high repute. The white- chapel Bell Foundry (now Mears and Stainbank) established by Robert Mot in 1570, incorporated the business of the Rudhalls, Lester and Pack, ±helps, Briant, and others, and is now one of the leading firms of bell founders. Others are Gillett and Johnston, Croydon, and Taylor and Company, Loughborough, the founders of "Great Paul" for St. Paul's Cathedral (1881). The only makers of bells in America are the Watervliet Foundry (Andrew E. Meneely and Alfred C. Meneely), Watervliet, New York, and The J. C. Deagon, Incorporated, Chicago, Illinois. The bell is first designed on paper according to the scale of measurement. Then the outer mold is formed in an iron case lined with loam which is a mixture of special adhesive kinds of sand, cow hair, and other ingredients. A "strickle board" is fixed to an arm and central bar and 6. is swept around the loam until the required shape has been formed in the case. Then the inner mold, called the core, is made which consists of a structure built up of bricks, tier upon tier, and then coated with the same loam as that used in the outer case. This mold is given it's shape by the use of another strickle board in the same manner as was used in the shaping of the outer case. These are the first or rough coats applied to the molds which are then placed in an oven to be thoroughly dried. This process may take two or three days in the case of medium sized bells and longer in the case of larger bells. After the molds are dry they are brought out and coated a second time with a finer mixture of loam, and then return- ed again to the ovens to be dried. After this the surface of the molds are blacked and "sleeked" so that the castings may come out clean and smooth. Most bells have some kind of an inscription upon them and it is at tais stage of the making that the words are stamped in the outer case. The molds are then put together, the case filled over the core, and the metal having been brought to the correct temperature is then poured into the mold. The bell-metal is a mixture of copper and tin in the proportion of about four to one. In Henry III's reign it was about two to one. 7. In Layard's Nineveh bronze bells it was ten to one. Zinc and lead are used in the making of small bells. The cooling process takes about twenty-four hours in the case of moder- ate size bells or as much as a week in the case of larger ones. The case is then lifted off, the core knocked out and the bell is trimmed and sandblasted to remove the black and grease. In the American foundry this work is done with the use of a buffing wheel to bring a high polish to the surface of the bell. BELL TUNING Much curiosity exists and questions are often asked as to how the bells of a carillon are tuned. The process as a whole demands large experience, much scientific knowledge, and the possession of an ear which is responsive to extreme differences in pitch. Tuning a carillon is a matter of finest craftsmanship. Van der Straeton, says a fine caril- lon is as precious as a violin by Stradavarius.